The other day a fellow missionary and I were going out tracting, In the area that we serve in there are two main roads that are connected to several other streets but to get from one of these main roads to the other one we have to take a rather long and seemingly unnecessary road. I thought that this was not an effective use of time, having to go all the way around to get somewhere that is almost visible, (minus the tree line) from our backyard. I was looking at a map and say that there seemed to be a short-cut that could get us from one main road to the next rather quickly, with ease, and it would save us so much time considering we were going to be on our bikes that day. So... we decided that we could take this route that I had discovered and see if it will save us time. As we headed down this dirt road on our bikes we soon came to a puddle. We talked about it for a few minutes and we concluded that it would be best if we just left our bikes behind, and continued on foot to see how difficult the terrain would be beyond the puddle.
We carefully made our way around the puddle and continued on foot. I looked back at our bikes and realized that we should have brought our bikes with us, they help us cover ground a lot faster than we can on foot but, we still continued on without them. As we continued on this road it started to look less and less like a road and more and more like a swamp/marsh. We had to think about every step that we would make as we tried not to get our shoes stuck in the mud or slip and put our foot in the water. We decided that we would each find a stick to place where we wanted to step next, to make sure that we would be safe stepping there. We tried this out and for a little while it worked out but, after a few times the stick didn't work for us and so we just continued through this muck until we reached where we thought we wanted to go. It turned out that it was not where we had expected it to lead out to. We then proceeded to head back to where our bikes were, (shoes soaked through, upset, disappointed, and unsure of what to do next).
As we were home later that night I thought about it and realized that this was a perfect analogy to compare the gospel with. The road is obviously the path that our Father in Heaven has given us. It is paved, clear, and sure to be solid as we walk along it. Our bikes, the things that helped us get from point A to point B easier can be compared to the Holy Ghost, who is always there to help us out, ready to go with us as far as we can go but, as soon as we get to a point that it cannot go through, we leave it behind and there it waits for us until we return. This "Short-cut" that I thought was a good idea at the time, may be compared to a bad decision that we make in life. it may seem like a good idea at first but, as we start taking that path and we come across those road blocks, like a giant puddle... we realize that if we want to go further, we will be leaving our bikes behind. We start to go further without our bikes and realize that this road was obviously not a short-cut, it was clear from the beginning that it was not going to be an easier path to take but, we took it nonetheless and as we very quickly found out, we should not have taken it to begin with. So we decide we need to repent. We need to turn back, and as we start to come closer to the paved road we see our bikes in the distance, faithfully waiting for us to return, if we are willing to take the necessary steps to get back. We then make it back to the safe, paved, clear path and realize that we are not going to make the same mistake twice. We are going to make sure that we follow exactly where our Father in Heaven wants us to go so that we can return to Him.
As we were home later that night I thought about it and realized that this was a perfect analogy to compare the gospel with. The road is obviously the path that our Father in Heaven has given us. It is paved, clear, and sure to be solid as we walk along it. Our bikes, the things that helped us get from point A to point B easier can be compared to the Holy Ghost, who is always there to help us out, ready to go with us as far as we can go but, as soon as we get to a point that it cannot go through, we leave it behind and there it waits for us until we return. This "Short-cut" that I thought was a good idea at the time, may be compared to a bad decision that we make in life. it may seem like a good idea at first but, as we start taking that path and we come across those road blocks, like a giant puddle... we realize that if we want to go further, we will be leaving our bikes behind. We start to go further without our bikes and realize that this road was obviously not a short-cut, it was clear from the beginning that it was not going to be an easier path to take but, we took it nonetheless and as we very quickly found out, we should not have taken it to begin with. So we decide we need to repent. We need to turn back, and as we start to come closer to the paved road we see our bikes in the distance, faithfully waiting for us to return, if we are willing to take the necessary steps to get back. We then make it back to the safe, paved, clear path and realize that we are not going to make the same mistake twice. We are going to make sure that we follow exactly where our Father in Heaven wants us to go so that we can return to Him.
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